Naruto and Sasuke's Amazing Adventure
by leneypoo
Summary: Sakura kicks Naruto out of their apartment and into a crazy series of scenarios that test their relationship and Sasuke's sanity to the limit. NaruSaku
1. The Seventh Month Anniversary

**Disclaimer**  
I do not own Naruto, nor am I writing this for profit. Please don't sue!

**Author's Note**  
A writing exercise that involves getting over my editing complex. I'm writing whatever comes to mind. Yes there will be some editing for spelling and grammar but otherwise this is whatever comes to mind. Updates therefore will be pretty frequent. Also I doubt this will be the most accurate portrayal of characterization, but I try, hehe.

* * *

**Naruto and Sasuke's Amazing Adventure**  
Part 1: The Seventh Month Anniversary

"No. Go home Naruto."

With those final words, Sasuke Uchiha proceeded to shut the door on Naruto Uzumaki's big nose. There was an indignant squawk of protest and before Sasuke had reached the confines of his bedroom, the silence was broken by door pounding and generally incomprehensible ranting. Sasuke managed to pick up a few choice snippets of Naruto's diatribe.

"Open up dammit!"

More knocking ensued.

"Sasuke, you bastard!"

Sasuke toyed with the idea of ignoring him, but the Number One, Loudmouthed, Surprising Ninja of the Leaf was nothing if not persistent. Once Naruto had gotten an idea in his lodged into his thick skull, he would grab onto it like a boa constrictor grabs onto its prey. With a grunt of annoyed resignation, Sasuke strode back to the front door and opened it again.

Naruto looked ridiculous.

The blond was wearing longsleeved, white and blue stripped pajamas and that bizarre animal hat of his. Even more ridiculous was the pout on his face, the tremulous look in his blue eyes and the way he was clutching a pillow and blanket to his side.

The man looked like an overgrown five year old. Then again, Sasuke thought, the look was a reflection of his usual mental state, so it wasn't anything too shocking. The last Uchiha raised an eyebrow. Naruto, fluent in _Sasuke-ese_, took the expression as permission to elaborate.

"Sakura kicked me out!"

"Again?"

Naruto proceeded to let himself in, deliberately ignorant of Sasuke's bemused glare. He unceremoniously dumped his makeshift bedding onto his favorite spot on Sasuke's couch and whirled around pointing an accusing finger at his black teammate. "It's all your fault!"

Sasuke's fault? "Don't involve me in your love life, dobe," Sasuke responded, closing the door.

"You wanna come over here and say that?" Naruto said, brandishing a fist.

He then dropped it and ran his hands furiously through his hair. "Ah, man! That's exactly what caused this!"

"That?"

"I come back from our spar, you know, the one where I _totally_ kicked your ass."

Strange, Sasuke had remembered a completely different situation but he wanted to hear Naruto's explanation without unnecessary detours so, he refrained from voicing a refutation.  
"After I got out of the hospital and went back to the apartment, Sakura was home earlier than usual.

"She was all frisky and that's not the problem, I'm all over that shit. But then she starts talking about flowers and restaurants and candlelight dinners and _secret romantic clearings in the forest_."

With each item, Naruto gestured uselessly in the air. "I know for a fact it's not her birthday, that's next week! I've learned to write that down! So I ask her, what's the occasion?"

Naruto flopped down on the couch, shaking his head. "Then Sakura just bursts into tears. She starts sobbing about 'how I could forget our seventh month anniversary?' Sasuke, does that make sense to you? Seventh month anniversary?! I thought anniversaries were supposed to be yearly.

"So, I tell her that, and she kicks my ass out of the apartment. She's all like, 'since I spend so much time with you I might as well share a bed with _you_ instead of _her_'."

"Hn." It was not the first time Sasuke was glad he was currently unattached. He walked to the small linen closet next to the kitchen, and opened it, "Don't get any ideas," he warned Naruto.

"Man I wouldn't sleep with you even if you went Sexy no Jutsu!" Naruto was quick to snap back, "Although, it's not like it'd do much, you're already built like a girl!"

Sasuke responded by throwing the pillow he had taken out of the closet at Naruto's face. "I'm going to sleep," he announced, "don't piss on my couch."

"Screw you Uchiha!" Naruto yawned as he settled into a comfortable position on the couch.

Sasuke was already in his bedroom by this point.

"Yeah, goodnight Naruto."


	2. Hana no sen no kotoba

**Author's Note**  
The first chapter was short of one thousand words. I would have liked it to be longer because personally I tend not to read stories that don't at least hit the 1k mark (not sure why, I just feel that it's not enough for some reason). Couldn't justify sticking random filler in the scene though, so the word count stayed. This chapter, however, clocks in at almost two thousand words. I don't know how that happened and it could have been longer but, I figured that I might as well save some for the next chapter.

Oh and I haven't studied Japanese in years. So if I've messed up the chapter title please let me know. I can't help but try to exercise my withering knowledge in that language, sorry.

* * *

**Naruto and Sasuke's Amazing Adventure**  
Part 2: _Hana no sen no kotoba_ (A Flower of One Thousand Words)

"So, Uzumaki Naruto," Ino Yamanaka placed a hand on her hip and a flat look on her face, "who did you kill?"

Naruto scratched at his cheek sheepishly and frowned, "You suck at greeting your paying customers!" he whined, "You'd better watch it; I'm about to go to that other, better flower shop!"

Ino's eyes narrowed and the flat look deepened into one of irritation. "There isn't a better flower shop, because _this is the only one_!"

"Aw, shut up Ino!" Naruto pouted, his eyes narrowing info fox-like slits. "I just want to buy flowers."

He held out a ragtag arrangement of yellow flowers. Ino gave the makeshift bouquet an appraising look—yellow roses and carnations. Ino threw a deathly glare at Naruto, who stepped back involuntarily. "W-what's with the hard look?"

Ino eyed the flowers again. She knew that Naruto darkening the doorstep of the flower shop had meant something was going on with Sakura, but she didn't think it was bad enough to warrant the kind of arrangement he had wanted to buy. Sighing and shaking her head, she decided to give the orange-clad ninja the benefit of the doubt. "Nevermind, I shouldn't expect you to know any better," she said.

Naruto crossed his arms, and the flowers twitched threateningly. "Hey! I hope you know I have awesome taste; I know what looks good. Yellow is a happy color! I want Sakura to be happy!"

Ino almost missed Naruto mutter the words "And not kicking my ass..."

She smiled once again shaking her head. "Well," she gestured at the flowers, "not according to_those_. Basically, you want to give Sakura an arrangement says: 'I'm sorry, I'm cheating on you with some floozy whore, and we're breaking up'."

The blond jinchuuriki stared at Ino with widened eyes and a jaw slack in disbelief. "What the?" he demanded, "You're lying. There's no way a bunch of flowers can say all that."

Ino shrugged and feigned indifference with a toss of her long blond hair. "Oh whatever you say_Naruto-sama_, just don't come crying to me when Sakura kills you," she singsonged.

Naruto shoved the flowers in an empty vase next to the cash register. "Fine! I'll find something better!" he growled, tromping towards the back of the store.

Five minutes later, the blond ninja came back with a handful of orange lilies. "Orange! Even better than yellow. They're bright, and they'll remind Sakura of me!" Naruto grinned, chuckling.

Ino didn't need to use her mind-reading techniques to see the guy was mentally patting himself on the back for his 'genius' creativity and wit. Ino raised an eyebrow at the spray of bright flowers. The fact that the arrangement was tacky and she wouldn't force them onto her sometimes-friend, ofttimes-rival wasn't the only thing going against them."It's the perfect choice if you hated Sakura and thought she was a stuck up bitch." Ino said loftily. "Kind of harsh isn't it Uzumaki?"

"Aw, what?!"

* * *

"White roses and...Aloe! This has to be totally innocent!" 

"Innocent as 'Forehead, you better come to the bathroom quick, I'm trying to drown myself to emo music in the bathtub' "

* * *

"I can't lie to you anymore Sakura, you're ugly and I'm a flaming homosexual?" 

It appeared that Ino had pushed Naruto to the limit with her comments as Naruto slammed his hands on the counter, making the wood tremble and creak ominously. She grabbed the vase filled with rejected arrangements before it could topple off the table. "Okay, I give up!" he panted.

Ino almost felt sorry for the poor shit.

"I just want something that'll tell Sakura that 'I don't know how I messed things up, but I'm really sorry and I love her and can we live under the same roof again!"

Ino tilted her head in semblance of thoughtfulness. She had surmised as much, but she liked watching Naruto squirm under the pressure. "Hmm...no, sorry, I don't think there are flowers that say that."

The murderous look on Naruto's face caused Ino to erupt into laughter.

With a creak and the tinkle of chimes, the back door to the flower shop opened and a deep voice called out, "Hi Naruto, what's up? Ino, where do you want this?"

Ino looked up to see Chouji grinning behind a large brown box. He had swapped his usual armor for a green apron, and his long hair was tied back in a low hanging ponytail. She was wondering what had taken him so long back there. "Oh, just put it on the shelf in the corner to your right," she said, smiling.

When Chouji came back, Ino walked over to him, stood on her toes and landed a kiss on his lips, wrapping her arms around his neck. Chouji raised his hand to her cheek, tracing circles on it. Ino giggled and was about to go in for another when a symphony of gagging noises erupted in front of them.

The tender moment gone, Ino turned to Naruto who looked like he was going to be sick. "Flowers first! Sex later!"

Ino glared at Naruto crossing her arms. "Don't be bitter because Sakura won't put out for your trifling ass."

"What happened?" Chouji asked.

Ino was very curious to know the details about it as well and gave Naruto a pointed look. "Will you help me pick a flower that doesn't scream 'DIE DIE DIE'?" Naruto asked.

Ino waved her hand dismissively. "Yeah yeah!"

Naruto frowned and crossed his arms belligerently. "I forgot about the 'Seventh Month Anniversary'. Whatever _that's_ supposed to be."

The reaction was instantaneous. Ino's hands flew up to her mouth as she let out a gasp that belonged on a soap opera. Chouji looked at Ino, slightly alarmed. "What?" Naruto demanded.

"How could you forget the Seventh Month Anniversary!" Ino cried.

"I don't even know what it is! How am I 'pposed to remember it?"

Ino shook her head, her palm slapping her forehead. "It's an old Leaf-nin tradition...Chouji took me out to this new restaurant on ours two years ago."

Naruto glanced at Chouji who looked positively shocked. While Ino blathered on about how Chouji was a god upon men, "Chouji help me out?" Naruto mouthed silently, "you know anything about this?"

"No idea, and it sucks to be you." Chouji mouthed back, making a gesture of one's throat being slit.

"And that's why, I guess I'd better help you." Ino finished. "Not everyone can be as sweet as my darling over here."

Ino turned slightly into Chouji who squeezed her hand comfortingly. The Akimichi heir offered Naruto a sheepish smile. "Uh Ino," he started breaking away from her. "I think I want to talk to Naruto. Outside."

When Ino looked at him suspiciously, Chouji gulped. "You know, about um...how he's failed in his duties of manhood," he threw out.

Ino's looked softened into a mollified one. "Okay, go for it." she said. "Good luck."

Chouji didn't waste any time in grabbing a confused Naruto by the arm, and dragging him to the back of the flowershop. "Chouji! 'failing my duties in manhood'?! What kind of bullshit is that!" Ino heard Naruto fume before the door was shut.

Ino sighed with a content smile. Not everyone was lucky enough to have a guy like Chouji in their lives. He was seriously the nicest and most sincere person she ever met, and he didn't need to get over himself, like a majority of guys out there.

Her musings were broken by the tinkling of chimes, this time from the front door. "Hi, welcome to the Yamanaka flowersho—FOREHEAD!"

Sakura paused at the threshold to the flower shop, but shook her head and walked inside. Ino could see the pink haired woman was out of sorts, her posture was bad, her shoulders and back slightly hunched as if there was a large weight pressing on her back. "Hey Ino-pig," Sakura's voice trailed off quickly.

Before Ino could open her mouth Sakura walked past her and into the aisles of flowers. Ino closed her mouth and watched silently as Sakura waffled between the apple bottoms and anemones before finally choosing the latter, plucking a white one from a bunch.

She tucked the front of her hair behind her right ear l and placed the stem of the white and yellow spotted flower between her earlobe and her temple, letting the flower ornament her hair. After that, Sakura dropped her hands and began to stare into a pot of begonias with such a look of forlorn, that Ino shed her silence like a dress from last season. "Okay, Sakura, spill."

"Hm?" Sakura looked at Ino as if she just noticed the blonde was there. "What?"

Sakura put on a lopsided smile and her green eyes took on a decidedly glossy sheen.

"You can't come in here like some sort of...zombie and not give me an explanation!"

Sakura blinked, her hand fingering the soft flesh of the anemone before making a face. "Ino, you're horrible at customer hospitality," she replied. "I've half the mind to go looking for another flowershop."

Ino facefaulted into the register counter. "Ow." came her muffled cry.

Recovering in an instant, the blonde shook her head in disbelief. At the rate she was going, her head was about to shake itself off her neck. "You two...are the most hopeless, idiotic couple I have ever seen in my life!"

Sakura frowned, her brows lowering to top off the inquisitive expression. "Huh? What is it Ino-piggy?"

"Exactly what I said. What's the deal?" Ino crossed her arms as a haughty expression took over her face. "The two of you are fighting again. It's obvious."

Ino knew that Sakura was an accomplished kunoichi and with that came control of her emotions but, she still noticed the blood involuntarily rush to Sakura's face. "How do you know?"

"I have my ways," Ino smirked. "So what happened Sakura?"

The resolve on Sakura's face wavered and Ino leaned over the counter in anticipation of a deluge of details, but the blond was disappointed. Sakura blew a raspberry at Ino and turned away to hide her face that was betraying her. "It's none of your business!"

'_Oh ho_,' Ino smiled deviously. '_Well then, time for desperate measures._'

She leaned back on her heels and hollered. "Chouji! Why don't you and your friend come back in here!"

"What are you playing at Ino?" Sakura demanded.

Before Ino could serve up a coy but maddening response to her rival, the back door opened again. "Thanks Chouji and all, but none of that is my style," came Naruto's voice floating over the aisles of flowers.

Sakura froze and the blood drained out of her face. Her head turned back to Ino, who flashed an innocent smile. "Oh, Naruto! How nice of you to stop by!" Ino said, her eyes not moving one inch from Sakura's growing horrified expression.

Maybe Ino Yamanaka was totally out of line and too nosy for her own good, but she figured that most ninja weren't altogether sane. If a heightened curiosity was all she came away with after the brutal, trial-by-fire training process, then Ino thought she was in good shape.

As for Sakura and Naruto's relationship, that was to be seen.


	3. A Rank Mission

**Naruto and Sasuke's Amazing Adventure**  
**Part 3: A Rank Errand**

Sakura wrenched her eyes away from her blond friend—more like evil traitorous _bitch_—and let her gaze fall upon Naruto. More specifically his tanned hands, that she knew from...experience were smooth, unchecked from calluses. It brought to mind how she spent last night. Alone and horny. She had to settle for a blanket wrapped around her body instead of his arms. 

The thought sent a tingle down her spine and she hoped she wasn't blushing. 

'_What are you thinking!_ ' A voice—that reminded her so much of Ino that Sakura wondered if this was a new technique of hers—demanded, '_You can't let him off the hook so easily!_'

Sakura's jaw clenched in resolve. "Hello Naruto," she asked with controlled casualness. "How was your sleepover with Sasuke?"

Naruto's face screwed up in frustration. "Sakura," he began but Sakura sniffed, turning away from Naruto and facing a sprig of cloves. 

Sakura didn't think she could maintain her stance for much longer. She started at the sensation of strong hands gripping her wrists. "Sakura_-chan_, listen to me."

Sakura eyes widened. It had been a while since Naruto had attached the "-chan" suffix to her name. Right before they moved in a year ago, he dropped it. Sakura saw it as a sign of his growing maturity and their burgeoning relationship. Despite it all, hearing her name spoken like that made her think of lying against his rumbling chest as his scratchy tenor whispered into her ears. 

She didn't think Naruto knew—she didn't want to acknowledge the mortifying possibility—but he could manipulate her...oh too easily for her liking. Sakura gave up her fight and faced Naruto once again. "Sakura-chan," he continued. "You know I'm sorry. Whatever it was I did, I--"

Then again, no one could piss her off as much as Naruto. Sakura twisted herself out of his grip. "Whatever it was?" she asked, her voice soft but laced with latent anger. 

Naruto gestured resignedly. "Okay, okay, the sixth-month anniversary"

"It was _seven_ months!" Sakura's realized she was yelling now. "Naruto, seven months!"

She heard a low growl and felt Naruto's presence move near to her. "Seven months!" Naruto corrected hastily. "Sakura-chan, this changes nothing about how I feel for you."

"Nothing..." Sakura faltered as if someone had struck her in the chest with a kunai. Her head lowered. 

She felt arms wrap around her waist, and the weight of his head on her own. "Naruto..." Her voice came out as a whisper that swiftly died. 

"Hmm," he buzzed over her. "What Sakura-chan?"

Sakura felt her knees wobble but opened her mouth to release the words that playing like a brokn record in her mind. However, before those words could slip from her lips the jingle of chimes cut in. 

Immediately Naruto's embrace slackened, and Sakura took her chance to wriggle out of it. 

An ANBU agent wearing a racoon mask glided into the flowershop and faced the two of them. "Naruto Uzumaki?"

"Not now," Sakura heard Naruto snarl. 

The ANBU moved behind Sakura, blocking Naruto's access to her. "The Hokage wants to see you in her office. Now."

For a moment Sakura thought Naruto was going to attempt to strike down the ANBU. But his clenched fists relaxed and he sighed the tenseness out of his body. "Okay, fine. Let's go."

Sakura watched the ANBU escort Naruto out. Just as he passed the threshold their eyes met. Sakura's gaze fell to the floor. She couldn't help but think that she was the biggest coward in Konoha.

* * *

Tsunade was waiting expectantly in her office and, with the exception of the two ANBU sentries that were permanent fixtures in her office, she was alone. Shizune was on a week-long sabbatical in Suna and Sakura was off for the day. The entire office to herself! All she had to do was press through the mission briefings and then she could kick back with a bottle of warm sake and relax for the first time in two years. 

The door opened and Naruto walked immediately throwing Tsunade off guard. With Naruto Uzumaki the door didn't just open, it burst. Naruto didn't just walk, he marched. And the silent acquiescing stare instead of his big mouth yapping was downright unheard of.

It put Tsunade at ill-ease. Naruto was like a surrogate son, the one that she never had. She almost felt obligated to do something about his creased brow and stormy looking eyes. However, she wasn't surprised that when she prompted him, his eyes flickered briefly with signs of life and he waved her concerns away, making a halfhearted comment about her age, before going back to that morose look. 

They stood in silence for about thirty seconds and Tsunade was beginning to get annoyed. "Where's Uchiha?"

Immediately after the words escaped from Tsunade's lips the double doors to her office opened and the last Uchiha walked in. At a glance, the man was the epitome of casual indifference but Tsunade wasn't Hokage for no reason; she could see the signs of irritation all over Sasuke's body. 

"Hokage-sama." Sasuke bowed stiffly. 

"Uchiha." Tsunade acknowledged with a curt nod. 

Naruto snorted, drawing Tsunade's attention back to him. The blond had his arms crossed and a slight pout on his face. "Eh...so I'm with Sasuke?"

"Don't get too excited," Tsunade shot back. 

"Man, you don't know the meaning of excited Tsunade-baba."

Tsunade could feel her brow twitching. It seemed that Sasuke's presence did more to cheer him up than any of her mother hennish prying. Something about that saddened her, slightly. But she was happy that he was moving back to the person that she had to restrain herself from smacking upside the head. Although she wouldn't do it, no matter how Naruto got—it wouldn't do to send one of her ninja to the hospital, especially when it was short staffed and overworked. 

Now that the two people she was waiting for were here, she pressed a hidden button carved into the bottom side of her wooden desk. A small scroll slipped into her hands. She could feel the seal, a embossed carving of the kanji for 'fire' on it. 

"Here is the mission." Tsunade said, tossing the scroll at Sasuke.

Sasuke plucked the scroll out of the air and opened it. Tsunade watched the Uchiha's eyes scan the scroll. His brow furrowed but then he tossed it to his blond comrade. 

Naruto caught it and quickly glanced at it. "What the?" Naruto demanded. "We're supposed to buy a cat? What kind of D-rank bullshit is this?"

Tsunade smirked. "The daimyo is entitled to his indulgences," she said cordially. "You both remember the infamous Tora's passing."

Even Sasuke's expression considerably brightened into a small smirk at those words. Tsunade must have underestimated the effect the cat had had on this generation of shinobi. looked considerably amused at those words. It said something about the effect that cat had had on this generation of ninja. 

"The daimyo's wife hasn't been able to cope. The daimyo wants a replacement and his wife specifically requested Sasuke."

Naruto looked incredulous. Sasuke's brow narrowed which was the Uchiha equivalent of Naruto's confused expression. Tsunade allowed a hint of curiosity to leak into her expression. "You have history with the daimyo's wife?"

Naruto turned to give Sasuke a blatantly inquisitive look. Sasuke glared at Tsunade, who shrugged it off. "Moving on, Tora's breed is extremely rare and difficult to handle as I'm sure you are both familiar with. In fact, they stopped selling the breed in many pet stores after they proved to be too high maintenance. The only way to acquire a cat is to find one in the wild, steal one from another or take a kitten." 

Naruto blinked, nonplussed. Sasuke raised an eyebrow and Tsunade smirked. 'I think they're getting it.' 

"This _should_ be a D-rank mission," Sasuke spoke up. 

Naruto snapped his fingers and grinned. "But," he continued. "It's one of _those_ missions, isn't it." 

Tsunade's face remained impassive but she was grinning inwardly. "What 'errand' do you want us to do on the side?" Naruto continued. 

Tsunade crossed her arms and leaned back into her chair. "Well, there exists a cat of Tora's breed. It has just had a litter of kittens. It's in possession of one of the potentates of the Rain Village."

Sliding her hand under a stack of papers she extracted a photo, and flicked it into Naruto's hands. "Nobuo Ishikawa," Tsunade prompted. "A conservative hard liner, who is making moves towards the vacant leadership position in Rain Country." 

Naruto and Sasuke nodded. "Get a kitten, get rid of him and make it clean. As far as the daimyo's wife is concerned, this is a C-rank mission. As far as you both know, this is an A-rank one. Don't mess this up." 

"Understood."

"Got it baa-chan."

Tsunade waved her hand dismissively. "Get out of my office."

* * *

**Author's Note**  
I was sitting on this chapter for longer than I expected to. I had already written this a week ago, but I decided to take out some parts for later. So I'm sorry if anyone was expecting an earlier update. The urge to edit this story mercilessly is getting stronger and harder to resist. 

I also want to mention that I have posted this fanfiction online before. You can find it at the Heaven and Earth Forums (NaruSaku dot com). There's nothing there that won't be posted here eventually, I just wanted to make a shout out in case some people are having a case of deja vu.

Speaking of one of the questions I received on the forum, there isn't much of a specific place of time where this story takes place. I'm making this up as I go along. This might cause continuity issues, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.� 

Sasuke is the "Last Uchiha" which means Itachi is gone.

Sakura and Naruto have been going out officially for at least seven months, but they've flirted around the issue for a lot longer—Naruto got in trouble for forgetting Sakura's last birthday. 

Also, names in this fanfiction are First Name first, Surname second.Usually. 

Thank you for the reviews. 

* * *


	4. Interlude: A Regular Cassanova

**Naruto and Sasuke's Amazing Adventure**

Part 4 Interlude: A Regular Casanova

Naruto was a lot of things and for what he wasn't, he was willing to put forth enough effort to make a change. One such venture was learning how to pick his battles and there was one area where he had concluded he was a total failure.

That was being smooth.

His attempts at asking Sakura out were laughable, even if Sakura preferred inflicting bodily harm instead of laughing. It had been that way ever since the first time he had asked her out in the middle of taijutsu drills in the shinobi academy (she punched him in the nose) to the time when he was feeling a little insomniac and asked her at three in the morning (she clocked him with her alarm clock).

There was no rhyme or reason to any of it and more often than not, the two of them fell into a comedic routine of Sakura denying his advances.

Maybe Naruto should have gotten dressed in nicer clothes, came to Sakura's doorstep with a bouquet of flowers and popped the question, but ideas like that rarely occurred to him, or on the off chance they did, something—_anything_—would happen to mess it all up.

However, for what he lacked in finesse, he made up in heart and sheer dumb luck.

The time that Sakura actually said yes though, proved that apparently Sakura wasn't a stickler for the finer things in courtship.

Her acceptance came after one of the most disgusting missions Team 7 had ever been on. Naruto was sure they were being sent on this mission in an overdue, passive-aggressive attempt on Old Hag Tsunade's part to punish Sasuke for going missing-nin. The newly reunited team was hired to kill dangerous beasts in a city sewer in Fire Country. Apparently the monsters had gotten tired of eating shit and wanted to move straight to the top of the food chain.

Naruto quickly discovered that sandals and shit did not make him happy. _At all_.

(The hilarious look on Sasuke's face did).

Fighting did not go well. By the time they killed the last beast, Team Seven was completely covered in steaming (courtesy of Sasuke) fecal matter. Naruto was sure that he was going to get a disease that the Kyuubi couldn't fix and die horribly.

So, of course it was the perfect opportunity to ask Sakura if she wanted to go eat something later that week!

Sakura stared at him with widened eyes for a few seconds of torturous silence. Then with a shake of her head and a wry grin, she accepted, "I guess the day can't get any worse."

Naruto was over the moon. He didn't care that all of his friends, most of all Sasuke, wanted to gag him and chuck him off the Hokage monument by the week's end. His haze of euphoria lasted until he came across his bank account where Naruto found he had enough to apply to the Broke Phi Broke ninja fraternity after paying rent.

All happy feelings shot to hell, Naruto trudged through the streets of Konoha to arrive at the Ichiraku Ramen stall, where he proceeded to fall into a deeper funk when he realized he couldn't afford to drown himself in ramen.

Ayame who always had Naruto's back when things got down, lent a sympathetic ear. "Naruto-kun, what's wrong?"

Naruto raised his head from where it had been resting on the wooden desk. "Sakura-chan finally agreed to a date with me, a _real_ date...and I'm broke!"

Ayame frowned, giving Naruto a sympathetic look. With a shrug she said, "You know...it's the thought that counts."

Naruto let his head fall back on the desk. "Well, I'm screwed then!"

There was the sound of something being placed in front of him and the smell of miso wafted through the crook in between his arms. The blond raised his head to see a bowl of steaming miso-flavored ramen. He gazed at Ayame in disbelief. The ramen chef's daughter smiled. "It's on the house!"

Naruto's openmouthed expression morphed into a grin, and with a cackle he broke the chopsticks placed beside the bowl and dug in. He made a satisfied humming noise. Ramen was truly the best food, and Ichiraku was the best in the world! If there was such thing as gourmet ramen, Ichiraku's would be at the forefront.

Naruto paused mid slurp as an epiphany smacked in the face. "I'm a genius!" he declared, drawing dubious looks from the other Ichiraku regulars.

"Ne, ne, Ayame-neechan! I've got to ask you a favor!"

* * *

**Author's Note**

Had this written for a long time, but I'm only uploading it now because I haven't been writing as much as I had a couple of weeks ago and I felt bad. So forgive the shorter word count.

Unfortunately, we're not going to see many NaruSaku moments in the regular story timeline until the end of this story. Frankly, I was tempted to change the character tag to Naruto and Sasuke. However, since the NaruSaku is the driving force and major conflict of the story, I decided to leave the tags as they are.

However I can't resist writing it, so I decided to insert flashbacks into the narrative periodically.

Broke Phi Broke (We Ain't Got It!) is a _hilarious_ interlude from one of Kanye West's CDs. I'm sure everyone feels like a sister or a brother of that fraternity/sorority sometimes.


	5. The Jump Off

**Disclaimer: **Naruto is not mine and I am sure as hell not getting paid for this.

_Quick and Dirty Recap: Naruto forgets an anniversary, Sakura decides they need a break and before Naruto can patch things up, Tsunade assigns Sasuke and himself a mission. _

* * *

**Naruto and Sasuke's Amazing Adventure**

Part 5: The Jump Off

Sasuke and Naruto exited the Hokage tower. Naruto was grinning and there was that familiar bounce in his step that conveyed his excitement for a particularly tough mission.

Not that Sasuke wasn't excited himself. After several years of having to deal with the most mundane of missions, he was glad that he was beginning to be assigned missions that would involve more effort than getting out of his bed in the mornings. This mission would be harder than most. Sasuke didn't ask Tsunade because she wouldn't tell him, and he was not one to waste words, but an assassination of this caliber had ANBU written all over it.

"So, when are we gettin' out of here?" Naruto turned around to face Sasuke, walking backwards.

Sasuke closed his eyes in thought. "Elections are in a week and a half so," he paused.

They continued to walk in the position, Sasuke thinking with his eyes closed and Naruto walking backwards staring at the Uchiha. Surprisingly they did not crash into anything, despite their inattention to the road.

"Tomorrow?"

Naruto nodded and turned around, throwing his arms behind his head. Sasuke could almost see the shit eating grin on the blond's face. They walked a block east before Naruto froze and visibly drooped. "Shit."

Sasuke stopped just before he crashed into his partner.

"Sakura...she's still mad, I know it."

Naruto sat down on the roadside curb. Sasuke stared at Naruto trying to figure him out and then he walked over to him. "You're such a loser." the Uchiha said, nudging Naruto with his shoe.

"Hey! What the hell!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. If Naruto was so worried about leaving things as they were, well there was only one thing to do. "Go talk to Sakura." He told his downtrodden friend, giving him a look. "Let's leave at sun up."

Naruto frowned but then nodded to himself, and leaped onto his feet. "_Yoshi_!" the blond clenched a fist to his chest.

He then started running off into the distance, towards the apartment Sakura and Naruto shared. Sasuke blinked bemusedly, wondering what Naruto was up to.

* * *

Naruto was almost surprised his apartment key had actually worked. Well, he didn't have any reason to believe that Sakura would go and change the locks, but compared to other fights they've had, this was probably the worst. Naruto sucked on his teeth as his hand tightened over the doorbell. '_Well, here goes nothin'_'

He pushed the door open and walked in. "Sakura?"

The apartment was empty. The door led into a living room, its walls painted a warm peach. A wooden coffee table, cork, lay on white carpet but instead of a sofa, several white beanbags were strewn artistically. To his right, there was the entrance to the kitchen. Where a solid wall would be, a square was cut into a kitchen counter. A clear bowl of oranges lay on top of it. There was a white note stuck on the bowl and big black letters spelled 'EAT ME (That means YOU Na-ru-to!)'. It was late afternoon but there was still enough light streaming in through white sheer curtains from the windows on the left side that Naruto didn't bother turning on the lights. In direct eyesight from the door, was an entertainment shelf cut in from the wall. A small TV sat on the bottom shelf and above were a bunch of framed pictures.

Naruto walked inside and closed the door behind him his legs taking him to the pictures. Each picture was in a wooden frame, with ivy and leaves carved into the woodwork. There was the original team seven picture to the side. Then another one with a grinning Naruto sporting a cast and face bandages.

Then Sakura in a pink bikini top with a sarong. Naruto thought she looked beautiful, no matter how many times Sakura had tried to put it away.

"_Look at my hair! It's all plastered to the side of my face."_

"_But I think you look cute Sakura-chiin!"_

"_You're SUPPOSED to think that, Hmph."_

Naruto snorted amusedly setting down the picture on the shelf. There was the picture of Naruto and Sakura moving in to the apartment in the first place. Well, in Naruto's case, 'try' was the keyword.

"_Move! We don't have all day and I don't want to waste it staring at your ass."_

"_Eh Sakura? I thought you liked it huh?"_

"_Oh yeah. It'll be a pity that I'll have to damage it a little kicking it inside."_

"_So cruel—hey! Kakashi what the hell are you doing in here with that camera?!"_

"_Took you long enough to move...oh hi Kakashi."_

Naruto resisted the urge to knock the frame flat, so that picture was gone. Sakura obviously liked that picture more than he knew. He sighed. There's was nothing he could do about it than wait.

* * *

_Meanwhile.._

The night was wasting away and Sakura bristled under the reproving gaze of the Hokage and her assistant. She wrapped her arms around herself in a defensive embraced and lowered her head so that her bangs cast a shadow over the dour expression on her face. "_Shishou_, it was impossible for me to have known he was the ambassador from Mist!"

"Swamp." Shizune corrected.

"What?" Sakura cocked her head, confused.

"The Ambassador is from the Village Hidden in the Swamp?"

Sakura brushed her bangs away from her eyes to level an incredulous stare at the Hokage's assistant. "I've never heard of a Swamp village."

Shizune nodded, "They aren't much for publicity, I think they're actually one of the few hidden villages that are actually hidden."

"None of that matters right now," Tsunade boomed, arms akimbo, "All I want to know is how do you plan on saving Konoha from an international crisis?"

Sakura's jaw dropped and she was about to respond indignantly, when a man's voice cut her off.

"Oh my lovely Tsunade-hime, you needn't put it in those dire terms."

The three women turned their attention towards the front door where a man was leaning against the door. His black hair was long and swept to a ponytail that fell on the right of his bare tanned shoulder. Bangs teased into a wavy texture framed honey eyes that seem to sparkle and a white smile that seemed to have too many teeth. His lithe torso was uncovered by clothing but wrapped up in bandages that culminated in a cast covering his left arm. On top of the cast was a forehead protector with brown ribbon. Black baggy pants and boots finished off the entire picture.

Sakura's was conflicted between a feeling of anger and revulsion. Shizune looked mildly shocked and Tsunade looked like she wanted to get drunk as soon as possible. The man did not waste his time, pushing off from his position at the door and sashaying his way to the front desk. He stopped, shifting his weight to his right side, as if he was posing for a photoshoot. "Tsunade-hime," the man said in a low baritone. "My name is Memna of the Swamp. I am honored to meet with Konoha on the behalf of my humble village."

It was almost midnight when Sakura had left the Hokage Tower and headed towards her apartment. She tried her best to shove the past couple of hours in a mental box never to be opened, but she could still hear Memna's voice, oozing with smarm.

"_This little pink blossom? I am honored to be able to witness firsthand why Konoha is so famed for their medical talent."_

Sakura's fists clenched. Her master was no help, in fact she had to make the situation worse!

"_Sakura, I am assigning you as Memna-san's escort and primary care provider. Report at his lodgings at 800 hours."_

"_Please take care of me, my cherie."_

Sakura let out a frustrated yell. She wanted to take care of him alright, if taking care meant putting his other arm in a cast!

Before she knew it, she was at her apartment complex. She walked up the stairs and opened the door as quietly as she can. She let out a small gasp at the sight that greeted her when she opened the door. Strewn across the beanbag cushions on the floor lay Naruto who, judging by the steady rise and fall of his chest, was sleeping. Strands of moonlight from outside hit his whiskered cheek and pooled around the strands of his hair, covering his closed eyes,

She was nudging blond strands of hair away from sleepy eyes before she could stop herself. "Suh-Sakura?"

Sakura froze mid stroke. This wasn't going to work. "Don't worry about me," she whispered softly.

Naruto began to sputter out a response, but her outstretched hand touched his lips silencing him. Sakura barely looked at his upwards gaze, his blue eyes brimming with questions, hurt and want. "Don't worry about me Naruto-kun," she continued, "I'm going to go home to mother for a while."

Naruto's eyes widened. "What? Why?"

Sakura was already in their bedroom digging in the closet for her old pink messenger bag. 'Where the heck would it move off to?' She could hear Naruto leap to his feet to follow her. "Sakura, is this really necessary?"

"It's only for a little while, a week or two." Sakura said, pulling out her old bag and beginning to put a change of clothes inside. "I just need some time to think for myself."

"But I'm--"

Sakura stopped digging through the underwear drawer. "Naruto, _please_."

Naruto watched mute as Sakura quickly packed her bag and fled from the apartment. He clenched a fist close to his chest. Mission or no mission. He was going to _fix this._ He was not going to give up. "That's my _nindo_."

* * *

**Author's Note  
Um had half of this sitting around for months, hehe. I kind of forgot about this fic really. But I really like it even though I find it's progression totally random. The next chapter will mark the story officially starting, I hope. I really never know where this story will take me until I actually type it.**


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